More confusion for Etisalat Nigeria as deadlock trail loan repayment talks with banks
Indication has emerged showing that the loan-ridden telecoms, Etisalat Nigeria is not yet out of the woods as moves to renegotiate the $1.2 billion defaulted loan with Nigerian banks has hit the rock following the missing of the last payment timetable.
Signal to the latest default may have been given by the Managing Director of GTBank, Mr. Segun Agbaje who said recently that banks are still waiting for another payment having received the first tranche on schedule.
Reuters had reported that the affected banks are currently under serious pressure to get their money to make up their books before the fast approaching half-year audit regime in June-July.
Etisalat met with the lenders in London on April 28 led by Guaranty Trust Bank but they could not agree a way forward, the sources said.
Efforts to clear dusty issues from the telecoms at press time failed as calls were not either answered or returned, but Business Hilights recalls that Etisalat had signed the medium-term seven-year facility with 13 local banks in 2013 to refinance a $650 million loan and fund expansion of its network, but is now struggling to repay.
Before now, the telecom had maintained that it was in fruitful talks with lenders to restructure the loan after it missed a payment in strategic assistance from the regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
